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metodd1
Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 10
Location: here and there
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 Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 4:11 am Post subject: curriculum |
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So, this has probably been covered. If so, sorry.
Still, for those of you who teach in places with no curriculum and you have to come up with material on your own, what do you turn to for lesson ideas and things like that? Do you all have a good resource or resources to use for that? I'm wondering if there is some kind of great material out there that people are using, or if it is a wide range of different stuff. I'd be interested to know, because I'm going to have to come up with some. |
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Super Mario
Joined: 27 May 2005
Posts: 1022
Location: Australia, previously China
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| Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 6:56 am Post subject: |
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Oh dear.
Which kinds of English classes do you teach? I like to build students' written competence via noun groups, nominalisations, and the various text types they need to master.
Field building, deconstructing, modelling and scaffolding are part of the teaching/learning cycle.
There are no quick fix answers to teaching EFL. |
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nolefan
Joined: 14 Jan 2004
Posts: 1458
Location: on the run
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| Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 4:42 pm Post subject: |
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too many variables to give you a proper answer.
I tend to use the China Daily as a source of materials and articles that are somewhat current and relevant. This website is not bad either and there are a few more. |
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Super Mario
Joined: 27 May 2005
Posts: 1022
Location: Australia, previously China
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| Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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There are heaps of free ESL sites providing lesson ideas and plans.
At the top of this page, hit
Dave's ESL Cafe Home
Then from Stuff for Everyone choose [/b]Weblinks.
But this is just lesson by lesson survival stuff. You need a long term program based on your student group's needs.
And some people [clearly not the OP] think teaching's just a stroll in the park! |
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Malsol
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 1976
Location: Lanzhou
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| Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 10:03 pm Post subject: |
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Last edited by Malsol on Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:47 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Girl Scout
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 525
Location: Inbetween worlds
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| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:18 am Post subject: |
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Since you didn't bother to inform us, or have no idea, about the ability level or age group you will be teaching, you will have a bit more work to do. We're not going to guess if you are teaching kids, college, or adults. You should also know that even if your job has a curicculm and materials, most of the ones I've been given were not worth the paper they were published on.
A good place to start is right here at Dave's. Go to the Thailand Forum and check the Thailand Master Index sticky.
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=12862
Scroll about half-way down the page to the Virtual Teacher Index. There you will find one of the most comprehensive list of material and lesson plan sites available today. |
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metodd1
Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 10
Location: here and there
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| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 5:19 am Post subject: |
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:::sigh::::
university.
no curriculum provided.
i have teaching experience as a sub, no lesson planning to speak of, until this summer when i have a couple of classes (at a college) of my own before heading to china for the fall.
i will figure it out.
thanks for the info. |
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Roger
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 9138
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| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 6:09 am Post subject: |
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| metodd1 wrote: |
:::sigh::::
university.
no curriculum provided.
i have teaching experience as a sub, no lesson planning to speak of, until this summer when i have a couple of classes (at a college) of my own before heading to china for the fall.
i will figure it out.
thanks for the info. |
I empathise with you for the discordant notes in the previous "replies"...
At univesity level: do you teach "oral English"?
Are your students English majors?
To givbe you some parallels:
I have university-level students aged 22 this year; none is English major. Yet, they have at least 8 or more likely: 10 years of classroom English to their belts.
Some come with a textbook "TAPESTRY" that's been written by people connected to the CNN.
The texts look pretty heavy and pretty interesting but alas, they don't go down with most students - their English simply isn't up to scratch.
So, as one of their instructors I can choose to use the textbook (though I haven't been provided with a copy myself!), or I can design my own course content.
As always, my students lack listening ability the most; say what you will but without the ability to follow someone else's discourse you should not try to make conversation with that person!
I therefore focus on listening exercises that incorporate pronunciation, comprehension and phonetics.
My classes are way too big to give them the opportunity to speak up; I don't subscribe to the notion of pairing them up to maximise their oral production because I am not a cop enforcing the rule to speak; if someone wants to speak they must do so to the whole class. In a postgraduate class of English majors they loved doing that, and they had no problems talking in front to their peers sitting at desks.
What I do to make them produce some spoken English is to have them repeat certain short stories sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph. I divide them into groups and make one at a time speak with the rest of them listening; I reoutinely ask for their peers' opinion on how good the intonation and pronunciation were.
I have no textbook but I have a pile of materials compiled over the years. Some stuff I derive from such Chinese teacher classics as STEP BY STEP (Phonetics), others I have compiled myself.
In the end, my students are expected to understand whole sentences rather than just words, and to be able to tell the difference between a Chinese pronunciation and standard pronunciation. |
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vikdk
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 1676
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| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 7:46 am Post subject: |
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| and to be able to tell the difference between a Chinese pronunciation and standard pronunciation. |
Roger as a non-native english speaker yourself how would you define standard pronunciation - and how would you utalise your concept of standard pronunciation in a Chinese classroom where the pronunciation ideal is so effected by a concept of so-called American English - that must be kinda important when you plan your curricula  |
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shenyanggerry
Joined: 02 Nov 2003
Posts: 619
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 11:48 am Post subject: |
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I also teach university students. I use the opposite approach to Roger. I have them in pairs or small groups much of the time. These are students who claim to have learned 2000 - 3000 English words. They have a hard time putting five in a sentence.
I concentrate on fluency. If they can use all the vocabulary they've learned, they don't really need more. I try discussions, games, anything to keep them talking in English. Occasionally they'll address the whole class but not often.
This also helps those afraid of making mistakes. When speaking with a small group of classmates, they don't fear errors. By term end I can see a marked improvement in their oral production. |
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Roger
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 9138
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| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 2:39 pm Post subject: |
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| vikdk wrote: |
| Quote: |
| and to be able to tell the difference between a Chinese pronunciation and standard pronunciation. |
Roger as a non-native english speaker yourself how would you define standard pronunciation - and how would you utalise your concept of standard pronunciation in a Chinese classroom where the pronunciation ideal is so effected by a concept of so-called American English - that must be kinda important when you plan your curricula |
\
Vikky,
I told you you don't know me and what my first tongue is, and judging by the daily flood of your garbled prose you have never even passed O level exams.
You are also wrong in assuming that "standard English is ...American English" - not in ordinary Chinese English-classrooms. There is no national "standard" adopted here. |
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vikdk
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 1676
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| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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So what is your definition of standard pronunciation - it was you who introduced this term in your post  |
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stillnosheep
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 2068
Location: eslcafe
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| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:46 pm Post subject: |
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As EFL teachers we do not have to be able to define standard English pronunciation. We need to be able to recognise non-standard English and teach students how to pronounce English in a more standard mannner.
Last edited by stillnosheep on Sun Apr 09, 2006 4:00 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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vikdk
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 1676
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| Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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| maybe standard should be replaced by the term understandable - as in listener friendly English? |
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Super Mario
Joined: 27 May 2005
Posts: 1022
Location: Australia, previously China
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| Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:43 am Post subject: |
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Roger wrote:
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I empathise with you for the discordant notes in the previous "replies"... |
, which had offered websites, unlike The Master who supplied some of his unique "Its a Chinese problem" advice, but nothing actually useful.
And Roger, at a guess your first tongue is an Afrikaans accented English. This should be no problem. This "correct" accent business, not to mention the conceit that only "native" speakers can teach English, is arrant nonsense, often coming from those whose lack of teaching ability means they must resort to any argument to justify themselves. |
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